HOME cookin’ ON THE RANGE FROM COWBOY CHOW TO WILD WEST RACES, THE CHUCK WAGON STILL HOLDS Texans’ FASCINATION. FIRE UP! The aroma of sizzling TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY JULIA ROBINSON pork permeates the predawn darkness at the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration in Lubbock. 52 texashighways.com | MARCh 2015 t’s bumper-to-bumper in Weatherford, 2005, Governor Rick Perry signed a Senate resolution desig- Cates are sorting through their chuck box, removing any mod- and most everyone is smiling. Traffic nating the chuck wagon as the official vehicle of Texas, ensur- ern cooking implements or ingredients that will cost them moves at a crawl around the court- ing the legacy for generations to come. points in the judging. Sue and Jean grew up in Channing with house, its picturesque red cupolas For a literal taste of that history, I head to the Lubbock Memo- a chuck-wagon cook for a father. In 1992, the pair became the reaching into an azure sky. Jay Pat- rial Civic Center on a September weekend for the National Cow- first all-female team to win the Western Heritage Classic Cook- ton stands up from his spring-wagon boy Symposium, where a dozen chuck wagons form a horseshoe off in Abilene. They went on to win the American Cowboy Cul- seat greeting everyone within shout- in a park across from the center. It’s before dawn on the day of the ture Award and were named chuck wagon of the year by the ing distance: “Howdy! Didn’t I see you cooking competition, and the glow of cook fires welcomes visi- Academy of Western Artists, and later published three chuck- Ihere last year?” Westbound drivers lean out of their windows tors as the aromas of coffee and bacon rise in a warm draft. Far- wagon cookbooks. With their signature aprons and black hats, snapping photos, waving to the eastbound lanes as a quarter- ris Hightower is in charge of feeding the volunteers this morn- the pair talks recipes and “war stories” as they prepare their mile-long line of heritage wagons moseys down US 180, their ing. The biscuits are cooking in a Dutch oven on hot coals, and wagon for competition. canvas tops and wooden wheels a wonderful anachronism. he gives them a gentle quarter-turn every few minutes, ensuring Visitors to the fairgrounds stop in to take pictures and chat Gridlock has never felt so joyous as the Red Steagall Wagon a light-brown crown and a fluffy white center. with the competitors, who flit about in a constant buzz of ac- Train drives through town on its way to the annual gathering A few wagons down, sisters Sue Cunningham and Jean tivity. Each is part historian, quick to share the details of his at the Fort Worth Stockyards for a long weekend of Western Swing music, cowboy poetry, ranch rodeos, and one of the larg- est chuck-wagon cook-offs in the state. An iconic image from the Old West, the chuck IN 2005, wagon still holds Texans’ fascination 150 years GOVERNOR after it first rolled across the plains. There are year-round cookouts and cook-offs, trail rides, and, RICK PERRY in true Texas fashion, competitions to see who has SIGNED A the fastest chuck wagon in the West. SENATE Cattleman Charles Goodnight is credited with RESOLUTION the creation of that first chuck wagon in 1866, DESIGNATING when he outfitted a Studebaker military wagon THE CHUCK to feed his team of 20 men driving 2,000 head of cattle on the trail from Texas to New Mexico. WAGON AS The Studebaker’s steel axles were sturdy enough THE OFFICIAL to survive the trail. Goodnight added a chuck VEHICLE box with drawers for food supplies and a lid that OF TEXAS. folded down into a worktable. The boot, a storage space under the chuck box, carried the Dutch ovens and other kitchen utensils, and a wooden barrel with two days’ supply of water was strapped to the side of the wagon with other tools and spare parts. A dried cowhide hung below the wagon box transported firewood, and when wood became scarce on the trail, cow chips from the herd were dried in this “possum belly” to provide fuel for the cook’s fire. TRAILBLAZERS From the mid-1860s to the 1880s, more than 10 million head From top: Michael and of cattle walked the trails from Texas to markets in Kansas, Cyndi Stein lead the Missouri, Colorado, and Wyoming. For the two to five months 2014 Red Steagall the men spent on the trail, the chuck wagon was their “home Wagon Train and Trail on the range.” Their bedrolls and personal belongings traveled Ride on the way to the in the wagon, all of their meals were served from the chuck Fort Worth Stockyards; box, and they socialized around the cook fire. The chuck wagon cook-off wagons must meet caught on with other outfits, and by 1884 Studebaker offered criteria for authenticity the “Round Up” model, a wagon created specifically for ranch in every detail; Glenn life and trail drives with Goodnight’s original additions. Moreland sets up his trail By the late 1880s, the railroad had eclipsed the trail as the wagon for competition most profitable way to move cattle to market. Despite its brief at Lubbock’s National life, just 20 years, the cross-country cattle drive has remained Cowboy Symposium an enduring image of the American West—so much so that in & Celebration. 54 texashighways.com | MARCh 2015 HEY, COOKIE! or her wagon and the era, and part chef, attending to the fires Farris Hightower and authentic pots, cast-iron pans, and ingredients that chuck- prepares a hearty wagon cooks used in the Old West. breakfast for event Camp competitors are scored on the authenticity of every- volunteers at the thing—the wheels “wooden and in drivable condition,” chuck National Cowboy box made of “regular lumber (no plywood),” cookware of “cop- Symposium & per, brass, graniteware, and cast iron,” flatware of “old Ger- Celebration. man or nickel silver, steel, or steel with wood or bone handles,” tools including a “heavy hammer, single bit axe, a two-man crosscut saw or bow saw, a brace and bits, and a drawing knife,” bedrolls that “must be canvas,” and the overall appearance of their camp, including the fire trenches dug with period shovels. At the Lubbock event, cooking contestants are issued the ingredients for the different categories of foods that will be judged in the competition—meat, beans, potatoes, bread, and dessert. Teams of four use only their chuck-wagon camp tools to prepare lunch for 50 people, including judging samples, en- suring a delicious meal for visitors who pur- COOKING AND chase a meal ticket. As the judges deliberate, I devour a meal of HISTORICAL chicken-fried steak, red potatoes, gravy, bread, AUTHENTICITY beans, and a sweet peach cobbler so tasty that ARE JUST I consider a second serving. Some of the com- THE TIP OF petitors here run Old West catering businesses THE ICEBERG from their chuck wagons during the rest of the IN CHUCK- year, and their expertise is evident in the ap- preciative yums and groans of pleasure from WAGON my dining companions. COMPETITIONS, After the results are in, I return to Sue and HOWEVER. Jean’s camp. They’re happy with a win in beans and dessert and a second place overall, but are always striving to be the champions. Their disappoint- ment is tempered by the promise of another accolade coming up in a few weeks, when they will be inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. Cooking and historical authenticity are just the tip of the ice- berg in chuck-wagon competitions, however. Almost from the time of their invention, chuck wagons were pitted against each other in that grand tradition of naming the fastest in the West. Cookies, as the cooks were nicknamed, might face off for the entertainment of their crews during a big roundup, but these days the stakes are higher and the speeds much faster than anything they could have imagined in the 1800s. On a chilly spring day last March I drove through the gen- tly rolling piney hills of Anderson County toward Palestine, in the northeast corner of the state. Every year around Texas WEB Chuck-wagon recipes at EXTRA texashighways.com/webextra 56 texashighways.com | MARCh 2015 MARCh 2015 | texashighways.com 57 Independence Day, the Diamond B Ranch hosts the 1836 Lubbock Chuckwagon Race, where teams from across the country race Jacksboro Fort Worth against each other for bragging rights and prizes, creating one Neches of the more entertaining spectacles a Texan can witness. There are five size divisions of chuck-wagon racing—Okla- homa Land Rush, Four Up Mules, Buckboard, Big Mules, and CHUCK WAGONS Classic—each with different requirements for the size of the IN TEXAS wagon, the team, and the race track. Wagons drive at break- Find more information on the topic from neck speeds around an open course, vying to be the first across the American Chuck Wagon Association, the finish line. But this is no simple drag race. Each chuck- www.americanchuckwagon.org and the Texas Chuckwagon Racing Association, wagon team—usually a cook and driver and a team of horses www.tcwra.com. Following is information and/or mules—has an outrider who must load a “stove” (a small for events in the story. box with a rope loop on it) into the wagon at the sound of the starting gun. The cook must load up a “tent” (a rolled-up towel).